The present invention relates generally to waste water from effluent sources such as those generated by chemical manufacturing, food processing, machining, deburring operations, aqueous cleaning and mining. More specifically, the present invention relates to apparatuses and systems for treating such waste water for proper disposal and/or reuse.
Various processes are employed to treat sewage, as well as water for drinking. Some employ very large and complex pieces of equipment, and are utilized in situations involving significant volumes of effluent to be treated. Other processes are accomplished on a much smaller scale. Plants employing small scale treatment processes are often referred to as xe2x80x9cpackage plantsxe2x80x9d, due to the ability to package and ship an entire plant as a unit. In sewage treatment, such plants are used to treat a single residential subdivision or single commercial application without the necessity of transmitting sewage to a large central treatment site. The same is true in water treatment, where small water systems cannot justify large treatment operations.
Also, sedimentation devices which incorporate settling tanks are well known to separate suspended solids from streams of liquid, such as water and wastewater, by gravitational settling. To increase the effectiveness of the liquid-solid separation it is well known to employ various chemical flocculating agents (e.g., polyelectrolytes) or coagulating agents (e.g. mineral salts). When mixed with the effluent, the agents combine with suspended solids to form rapidly settlable aggregates, called flocs.
It is also known that settling of floc particles can be enhanced in certain circumstances by mixing the flocculating agents with inert particles such as clay and sand. The mixing of flocculating agents and inert particles with the effluent is accomplished outside the sedimentation (or settling) tank in a pipe or mixing chamber and, may be accompanied by mechanical stirring of the mixture to provide contact opportunity and time for the resulting flocs to grow.
It is known to use such recirculation and mixing of impurities for floc growth until the flocs attain a size sufficient to settle or for easy removal by further filtration. But there are still short-comings (such as long treatment times, costs, etc.) in the prior art devices that utilize the addition of chemical flocculating agents and sometimes inert particles or that utilize recirculation of impurities to produce flocs.
For example, a common package sewage treatment plant employees a circular tank containing aeration equipment. Effluent sewage is aerated in the tank. In a settling chamber, aerated floc is allowed to settle out and is returned to the tank, usually by pumping. Clarified water is skimmed from the settling chamber and is removed from the tank by either gravity flow or pumping.
In a package water treatment plant, the process is similar. Untreated water is pumped into a circular tank where a flocculant is added, causing solid particles in the water to coalesce. The water is mixed to encourage full utilization of the flocculant. In a settling chamber, the floc is allowed to settle and clarified water is skimmed and removed.
The efficiency of package sewage treatment plants has been questioned, as has the energy consumption of such plants. With increasing effluent quality standards, a need has developed for a more efficient plant which will function adequately under peak loading conditions while consuming a minimum amount of energy.
Various types of aerobic treatment methods are employed in large scale sewage treatment plants. One method which has proven to be highly successful utilizes an oxidation ditch for sewage aeration, whereby a flow of aerated sewage is continuously circulated in a generally oval-shaped ditch. Clarification of the aerated sewage is accomplished in various ways. Some plants use external clarifiers, which are large tanks into which mixed liquor from the oxidation ditch is pumped. Sludge floc is allowed to settle and is pumped back into the ditch for further aeration. Clarified effluent is drawn off the top of the external clarifier or passing through finishing or polishing filters. The external clarifier process is very similar to that used in the prior art package plants.
In view of the foregoing, there is a demand for a water treatment system that can continuously treat waste water. Further, there is a demand for a water treatment system is this compact and inexpensive to manufacture and use while being highly efficient. Moreover, there is a demand for a water treatment system that can be easily installed inline with preexisting filtration equipment.
The present invention preserves the advantages of prior art waste water treatment systems. In addition, it provides new advantages not found in currently available systems and overcomes many disadvantages of such currently available systems.
The invention is generally directed to the novel and unique waste water treatment system with particular application in continuously treating a flow of contaminated, waste or bilge water from a source, such as, for example, chemical processing effluent, jewelry manufacturing and plating, machine shops, food processing effluent or mining effluent.
The waste water treatment system of the present invention includes a dry-feed hopper and a wetting flume for receipt of dry flocculant and waste water. The dry-feed hopper includes a container with a volume of dry flocculent therein. A manifold receives a nozzle connected to an air source to periodically deliver dry flocculant to the wetting flume. An inline static mixer is provided after the wetting flume. The output of the inline static mixer is introduced into an agitation stage which includes a base table support and a cylindrical housing with an outer wall and an inner wall and is resiliently mounted to the top surface of said base table support. A downward spiraling length of corrugated hose is positioned between the outer wall and the inner wall. Waste water from the inline static mixer is introducing into the top entry port of the length of corrugated hose to exit at the bottom exit port of the corrugated hose. The cylindrical housing and corrugated hose is vibrated during flow of waste water therethrough to encourage the development of flocs to provide treated waste water suitable for further dewatering and filtering.
In operation, xe2x80x9ccontaminatedxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cwastexe2x80x9d water is controllably introduced into a wetting flume where dry flocculant is periodically introduced into the flow of waste water. The waste water is then passed through an inline static mixer where further mixing of the flocculant is achieved. The output of the inline static mixer is passed into a vibrating downward spiral of corrugated hose. Through the assistance of gravity and the agitation by use of a motor driven vibrating table, desirable flocs are produced and enlarged to treat the waste water in preparation of further dewatering and by conventional filtration systems.
It is therefore an object of the present to provide a waste water treatment system that can treat a continuous flow of effluent.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a waste water treatment system that is inexpensive and easy to install, manufacture and use.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a waste water treatment system that is easily installable inline with other filtration devices.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a waste water treatment system that is compact yet highly efficient.